Screening could stop the degenerative disease hitting middle-aged victims, according to a study by University College London (UCL). Around 676,000 people in England have dementia, with the figure around 850,000 in the whole of the UK. In the study of more than 3,000 people, UCL scientists monitored the strength of people’s pulse travelling towards the brain.
Boffins uses ultrasound scanners to analyse blood vessels in people’s necks and how the pulse reached different parts of the body with varying degrees of power.
An international team of experts studied the strength of the pulse as it travelled towards the brain in 3,191 people in 2002.
They then monitored their memory and problem-solving abilities over the next 15 years.
People with the highest strength pulse were 50 per cent more likely to have accelerated cognitive decline over the next ten years, the study found.
It was the equivalent of an extra one-and-a-half years of decline.
Cognitive decline can be an early indicator of dementia, although not everyone goes on to develop the disease.
Experts are hoping an MRI scan could help predict early signs of dementia by analysing changes within the brain that could explain cognitive decline.
Dr Scott Chiesa, from UCL, said: “Dementia is the end result of decades of damage, so by the time people get dementia it’s too late to do anything.
“What we’re trying to say is you need to get in as early as possible, identify a way to see who’s actually progressing towards possibly getting dementia and target them.”
It is believed healthy vessels close to the heart reduce the power of each heartbeat and stop them reaching delicate blood vessels.
But ageing and high blood pressure can stiffen vessels and reduce protection.
Stronger pulses are able to penetrate deeper into the brain’s weaker vessels.
This causes damage to smaller vessels which can add to the risk of demean, the study found.
Professor Metin Avkiran, associate medical director of the British Heart Foundation, said: “This test may provide a new way to identify people at risk of cognitive decline long before they display any noticeable symptoms.
“What we need now is further research, for example to understand whether lifestyle changes and medicines that reduce pulse wave intensity also delay cognitive decline.”
The research was funded by the British Heart Foundation, Medical Research Council (MRC), National Institutes of Health (USA), European Commission (EU), Helsinki Institute of Life Sciences (Finland) and Brain Protection Company Ltd (Australia)